1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to traffic safety devices, and more particularly to a method and system that provides remote alerts to roadway personnel in response to traffic incursions.
2. Description of Related Art
Protecting road construction personnel from injuries that arise from vehicles straying from marked roadway boundaries or directives provided by safety icons has long been a high priority of various transportation organizations. It should be appreciated that safety icons may be provided in any of a number of different forms, including signage, safety barricades, safety barrels, safety nets, safety fences, traffic cones, traffic posts and so forth that are configured for directing traffic flow or displaying work site related warning signage and information. A number of systems have been developed toward fulfilling the goal of warning construction workers when a vehicle incursion occurs in association with these safety icons. For example, a number of light and sound devices have been proposed which attach to a traffic safety cone, or similar safety icon, for generating an alerting annunciation, such as light or sound, to warn construction personnel of a hazard when the safety icon is struck by a vehicle. Existing incursion devices may only be adapted to one type of safety icon or have a limitation such as range or line of sight for transmitting a warning signal.
Unfortunately, construction sites are often extremely high noise environments in which alerting sounds, and/or lighting, positioned more than a few yards away may not be noticed by busy construction crews. Further exacerbating the alert cognition problem, many workers wear noise attenuating hearing protection to minimize the noise hazard to which their ears are subjected.
As sound and light are attenuated in free space according to the square of the distance, it is also not surprising that the sound (or light) generated from an alert unit may only be recognized by personnel positioned within a short distance of the alert unit. The distance over which the warning may be heard, or seen, may be insufficient to allow workers to determine the cause of the alert and to extract themselves and others from danger. As a result, even with incursion detectors available, many workers are struck by oncoming vehicles every year. Personal pager systems that generate an audio, optical or vibratory signal have been developed as personal safety receivers to be worn on the worker. To be effective, however, the system must reliably receive the incursion signal. Distance, line of sight, and interference from equipment or structures are limitations of existing incursion detectors that must be taken into account when deploying these systems. False signals also decrease effectiveness of these systems.
Worker safety also depends on proper deployment of the incursion device. Connections and switches are susceptible to human error or accidental deactivation. Deployment is typically done at the start of each work day. Extra time required to position and verify operation of existing safety devices further exposes workers to traffic hazards and lowers project productivity.
It should be appreciated that a number of causes may exist for highly erratic driving, for example the driver may be inept, out of control, intoxicated, asleep, in the throes of a physical situation (heart attack, stroke, and so forth), homicidal, suicidal, or combinations thereof along with other similar dangerous states of mind and/or body. Consequently, since existing systems can only reliably communicate warnings over a short distance, road construction personnel are subject to increased risk of injury or death.
Therefore, a warning system is needed that is capable of providing reliable incursion alerts to roadway personnel sufficiently in advance of when the oncoming vehicle poses a threat to construction workers located near the incursion or at any desired distance therefrom. An incursion alert warning system that is quick and easy to deploy, adaptable to many existing safety icons, does not depend on line of sight, does not depend on operator activation and can protect extended construction zones is desired.